Jeffrey Okeson, DMD

Dr. Okeson has been a full-time faculty member at UK for forty-five years serving in various leadership roles within the College of Dentistry, including chief of the Division of Orofacial Pain and the director of the UK Orofacial Pain Clinic, which he founded in 1977; chair of the Department of Oral Health Science; and interim dean.

As a world-renowned specialist in orofacial pain, Okeson has more than 240 publications in the area of occlusion, temporomandibular joint disorders (TMD) and orofacial pain in various national and international journals, and he has written two textbooks on TMD and orofacial pain, which have been translated into twelve languages. Okeson was named the International Dentist of the Year by the Academy of Dentistry International in recognition of his worldwide efforts in these fields. He has lectured in every US state and fifty-nine foreign countries. 

During his tenure at UK, he has received numerous awards. He has been honored with UK’s campus-wide Great Teacher Award, the Provost’s Distinguished Service Professorship, and received the first-ever Distinguished Alumni Award from the College of Dentistry. He has been inducted into the University of Kentucky Hall of Distinguished Alumni and also recognized as the most outstanding professor in the state of Kentucky with the Acorn Award.

Okeson is a graduate of the UK College of Dentistry. He completed a general practice residency at the United States Public Health Service in Phoenix, Arizona.